世論 What Japan Thinks

With the government recommending that mobile companies remove SIM Lock restrictions on future mobile phones, thus allowing the same phone to be used on multiple carriers, this survey from iShare into SIM Lock removal found more people than I expected opposed to the move.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 19th of April 2010 469 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.6% of the sample were male, 29.6% in their twenties, 35.4% in their thirties, and 35.0% in their forties.

I’m all for SIM Lock removal, if just to encourage service providers to compete on price rather than the current locking into high-priced handsets and long-term contracts. Despite Japan having just about the cheapest fixed-line internet, mobile prices are all basically between 4,000 and 5,000 yen or so for all-you-can-use data plans, plus an additional 1,000 to 2,000 yen per month for basic service access with very few free minutes, then 40,000 to 60,000 for the handset on top. In the UK, as far as I can determine data plans are about half that price yet handsets are still subsidised. Due to these high prices, I cannot afford to upgrade to an Xperia, despite the many good reviews (barring battery life) that I am reading.

Research results

Q1: Do you currently have a mobile phone? (Sample size=469)

	All	Male N=270	Female N=199
Yes, one (to SQs)	68.9%	64.8%	74.4%
Yes. more than one (to SQs)	21.5%	27.0%	14.1%
No, none	9.6%	8.1%	11.6%

Q1SQ1: Have you ever had a problem understanding how functions are used or if they are available on different mobile phones or carriers? (Sample size=424)

	All	Male N=248	Female N=176
Yes	67.7%	64.1%	72.7%
No	32.3%	35.9%	27.3%

Q1SQ2: Have you ever wished that another carrier’s mobile phone that had good design, functions could be used with your current carrier? (Sample size=424)

	All	Male N=248	Female N=176
Yes	61.3%	64.5%	56.8%
No	38.7%	35.5%	43.2%

Q1SQ3: On the 2nd of April 2010 at a public hearing with the main mobile phone carriers the government recommended that SIM Lock restrictions be removed, allowing a mobile phone to be used on any carrier’s network. Did you know that this hearing took place? (Sample size=424)

	All	Male N=248	Female N=176
Yes	55.7%	66.5%	40.3%
No	44.3%	33.5%	59.7%

Q1SQ4: What do you think about removing SIM Lock restrictions? (Sample size=424)

	All	Male N=248	Female N=176
All handsets should have SIM Lock restrictions removed	43.4%	51.2%	32.4%
Some handsets should have SIM Lock restrictions removed	14.9%	17.3%	11.4%
Not bothered whether it’s there or not	36.6%	27.0%	50.0%
Opposed to any SIM Lock restriction removal	5.2%	4.4%	6.3%

I think it is safe to assume that the “either is OK” answer also covers “don’t know” as well as the “not bothered”.

Not surprisingly, those who had desired mobile phones with other carriers were more in favour of SIM Lock removal.